Saturday, May 26, 2012

Wavves at Oxford Art Factory, Sydney

Local young guns, Sures, warmed the crowd and I couldn’t help feel like my 16-year-old self at a battle of the bands show at my high school. These kids have potential but just were going at it much like teenage sex, everything, all at once, with underwhelming results.

By 10pm, the faux stoner, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing crowd had packed out OAF and excitedly waited for Wavves to take over. The Cali boys opened with King of the Beach and everyone completely lost their shit. This track set a breakneck pace that was sustained for the rest of the show.

The set was heavy with material taken from their last two albums. They churned out songs from their 2011 release, Life Sux, including I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl, while selections from their standout previous album showed diversity, such as the more sombre Green Eyes. Meanwhile, slacker anthem Take on the World had the crowd throwing themselves about, stage-diving and roaring the chorus.

I was aware that the band had recently been playing a cover of Sonic Youth’s 100% as part of their set and once again it made an appearance. The addition of their rendition of the punk classic was better than expected and well executed in classic lo-fi Wavves style.

Wavves' surf-infused brand of garage punk was a fine way to spend a brisk Tuesday night and a more-than-welcome distraction to the working week for a boisterous Oxford Arts crowd. After the four-piece belted out the hits and made the requisite references to smoking weed, we all went home with ringing ears, content in the knowledge that the opening riff from King of the Beach would be stuck in our heads for days.